


I Am Tony Stark

by ShadowHaloedAngel



Series: Then and Now [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Gen, Underage Drinking, all non-graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 01:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1762087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowHaloedAngel/pseuds/ShadowHaloedAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man the public knew as Tony Stark was a creation as much as any of his greatest works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Am Tony Stark

People are born everyday, but not many of those births make the headlines. When Anthony Edward Stark was born, everybody knew. It was in every newspaper, on every television and radio show across the world. The vast arms and technology empire that was Stark Industries finally had an heir. 

Maria Stark did a photoshoot soon after coming out of hospital to introduce the world to the new baby. Tony was perfectly well behaved, gurgling and waving for the cameras. He was impeccably charming. That, at least, would stay with him as he grew up. Unfortunately, so would the media exposure.

He came to understand that a public life was very different from a private one. In public his dad was proud of him, effusive, affable, disarming everyone he met, both male and female. In private, Howard Stark was cold and unreachable, never found without a glass or a bottle in his hand, and always in the workshop unless he was screaming at Maria or Tony for some little mis-step, whether real or imagined. 

Tony knew it was normal for men to hit women, normal for men to hit kids too to keep them in their place. He didn't fight back. Not after the first time. He didn't want to fight back anyway, he just wanted his father to love him. He worked at learning everything, and luckily it wasn't too hard. Circuits and coding seemed to come naturally to him, and he built a fantastic little AI puppy to be his first pet after his father had told him no. He took it to show him, and watched as Howard Stark kicked it to pieces. It wasn't worth his notice. And really, Tony should have known better than that.

As he aged he began closing off even further. He didn't have any friends at school, neither the geeks nor the popular kids would talk to him and he spent the few hours that he actually attended isolated in a corner with tools and wires. His mother gave in and got him a private tutor, but even being homeschooled, Tony's thirst for knowledge and natural voracity meant he devoured everything he was taught. Unfortunately that wasn't just the academic subjects he was studying.

His mother was a balancing influence in Tony's life, and one that he was forever grateful for, so much closer to her than his father, so much happier near her. But still, he wanted to be like his dad, he wanted to be this hero that everyone else saw, even if he had no idea how to go about it. The drinking came early, a stolen gulp from one of the amber bottles scattered everywhere around Howard's rooms. The coldness came too, though it never reached his eyes. The public face was easy to maintain. He'd been doing it since before he was born, after all. It wasn't exactly difficult to keep the act up.

They lapped it up, all of it, and he played to it, creating a persona they loved to hate, a persona they worshipped like his father. He would never be his father, but he could at least try to be a worthy heir. Howard had beaten it into him on more than one occasion that Tony was little more than a disappointment, and that was all he would ever be. He slept around, he drank, he partied, he did all the bad things without any of the consequences because he was Tony fucking Stark and he had money to burn. 

He never understood where Pepper came from, or why she stuck around, but she was the only reason he kept his head above water after his parents died and he knew that. Her and Obie. Obie had always been in the shadows before, and suddenly he was a little too close and Tony felt cornered. But there was nowhere to run and it was important to be gracious. Besides, Obie was the one who had always told him he was proud. Obie was the one who told him he was worth something, he was just as good as his dad.

He hated how his thoughts turned to the man in the depths of a drunken night in the workshop. He hated it. But he couldn't change it, and really, he should be grateful. There was so much he should be grateful for. And really, without Obie he wouldn't have anything.

It was incredible how the mighty could fall so far, so fast. It only took a few moments for everything to change forever.


End file.
